Ingush Tragedy Result of Moscow’s No Longer Being Able to Buy Off Kadyrov as It Did, Milshteyn Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 5 – When Moscow had sufficient funds from high oil prices, the Kremlin was able to keep Ramzan Kadyrov happy and controlled more or less within his own borders, Ilya Milshteyn says. But now that the money has run out, it has had to tolerate the Chechen leader’s causing trouble in his immediate neighborhood lest he cause it even further afield.

            Kadyrov “sees himself as the unifier of the Caucasus land. And if earlier, in pre-sanctons times, his appetites could be moderated with money, which it is well known who sent him, now, obviously, you can’t get around without geopolitical payoffs,” the Russia commentator says; and that explains what has happened in Ingushetia and in Moscow.

            With Vladimir Putin’s agreement, Kadyrov forced Ingushetia’s Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to yield 26,000 hectares of land last September, sparking the protests that continue and have restarted because Moscow can’t or won’t back down from that but has taken steps to ensure Kadyrov’ victory (graniru.org/opinion/milshtein/m.275849.html).

            Those range from the decision of the Russian Constitutional Court that the land deal was legal even though it didn’t meet the requirements of the Ingush constitution to insisting that Yevkurov do away with the right of the Ingush people for a referendum on such issues, the step that provoked the latest round of protests.

            As long as Putin is in Moscow and Kadyrov is in Grozny, Milshteyn says, Ingushetia isn’t going to get its land back; but there may be a chance for Yevkurov to save himself and his republic by quietly backing away from repressions, Milshteyn says. Otherwise the situation will only spiral down to disaster. 

            As of today, that isn’t a step he appears willing or able to take. In fact, the news from Ingushetia remains bad as victims of the current round of repressions tell their stories (fortanga.org/2019/04/uchastniki-mitinga-rasskazali-podrobnosti-vcherashnih-zaderzhanij/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/326282/) and as more repression seems on offer.

            Many people have wondered what would happen in the North Caucasus when Putin ran out of money to buy off republic leaders who took his loot in exchange for keeping things quiet and undying expressions of loyalty.  Ingushetia is the answer, albeit not the one that many had been expecting.